Thursday, July 28, 2011

Hello, everyone! I hope you are all having good weeks so far. I'm so excited because this week our fence is going in at our new place here in Pittsburgh. I can't wait for the doggies to be able to run around like they are used to, chasing each other, bounding around and playing fetch. Fetch in the house just isn't the same, and it sure doesn't do enough to expend their energy (and they have lots of it!). There's not much of a place to take a walk around here, so a huge, fenced in yard is certainly the way to go.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Things have begun to slow down around here (a tiny bit) as we settle into our new life here in Pittsburgh, and with that comes enough spare time to miss my home in Wyoming. This house, this landscape, is great, but not being 'done' with anything - renovating, unpacking, landscaping, learning nearby streets and stores - is exhausting. It certainly makes me remember our perfect little house in Wheatland fondly. There are really no flowers in my Pittsburgh yard right now and it is making me think how my highly landscaped yard in Wheatland would look like. The peonies will have come and gone, but everything else will be in high bloom right now, like this purple flower, the name of which escapes me right now. When I get to missing it too badly, though, I try to remember how very nice it is to have air conditioning! It would be 90 in the house during the day in Wheatland by now, and I'd feel too sluggish to do much of anything.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

We got quite a bit of rain here in Pittsburgh a few days ago, and along with how lovely it made everything, like this leaf, we discovered a leak in our roof! It is just a smaller portion of roof, covering the sunporch, but it is unfortunate all the same. Alas, that's one more thing on the to-do list.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

While we were working in the yard one day, Brian came across this giant moth. It was resting on a pile of limbs he was chopping up, and it blended in so well I am surprised he saw it. He brought it over for me to see, and then gently placed it on the ground a safe distance away from our activity.

I photographed it right then. When we checked on it an hour later, it was gone.

P.S. Upon further research I think this is a Polyphemus Moth, and it feeds on the foliage of the trees.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Hi again, everyone. Sorry to be gone so long from the blog, but I have been so industrious in my absence! With the help of some family, I have removed wallpaper in two rooms, which despite the conditions, seems to never be an easy task. Most of my boxes are unpacked. I have a plan as to paint colors, and we are firming up renovation ideas to get us a new kitchen and a much-needed downstairs bathroom. We'll have a fence up in two weeks, and also will have a teetering old tree removed before nature has the chance to send it through my roof (I hope). So there has been a lot going on.

Despite my busy days, I always find moments to spend with my new neighbors. The above neighbor is perhaps my favorite. She visits my yard about every other day, snacking from the low-hanging branches of the bushes and trees as she goes along. She isn't afraid of me, or the dogs, so I hope once Happy and Little Bear have their new fence that she will still visit when they are safely indoors and all is quiet. I thought this doe was alone until I saw her again yesterday, with two spotted fawns nibbling away in the neighbor's yard. I have great views of the wooded lot next door from my house, and happened to see the three of them through a window. I watched them so long I nearly missed an appointment. I'll try to get some photos next time I see them, but I know that though the doe is not afraid of me when she is alone, she would likely not feel the same way when her young are so near. The last thing I want to do is scare them away.

Speaking of neighbors, I have met both next door neighbors, and even some from a few doors down. Everyone has been so welcoming and friendly, and it has warmed my heart to think we have so lucked out. And I have an update on our other animal neighbors, the turkeys. On the third of July they marched down the hill toward the house, two adults and five babies, surprising my father-in-law who called us out to the back porch. Then they proceeded to fly up into the tree nearest our back porch to roost for the night. They flapped about, beating the leaves of the maple tree as they moved from branch to branch settling in. It was quite a cool thing to behold.

Well, it is time to sign off and get to patching the plaster walls that we found beneath the wallpaper, and when it stops pouring rain, perhaps I will finally get a driver's liscence today. Until next time, be well my friends.

I try to find beauty in the everyday, primarily through my photography, which I share here. I also try to keep my brain thinking creatively every day, even if the rest of me is not in the mood, so the posts here are as much for me as they are for you.